Established in 2006, the Keystone State Education Coalition is a growing grass roots, non-partisan public education advocacy group of several hundred locally elected, volunteer school board members and administrators from school districts throughout Pennsylvania. Our mission is to evaluate, discuss and inform our boards, district constituents and legislators on legislative issues of common interest and to facilitate active engagement in public education advocacy.

The Carroll County School Board
plans to end its partnership with (K12, Inc.) the contractor that operates Virginia’s largest full-time
statewide virtual school, effectively shutting down a program that serves
more than 350 students.

Boulder, Colo. (May 2, 2013) --
A national study, released today by the National Education Policy Center
(NEPC), offers a comprehensive review of 311 virtual schools operating in the
United States. It finds serious and systemic problems with the nation’s
full-time cyber schools.

University of Colorado, Boulder Professor Alex Molnar, who
edited Virtual Schools in the U.S.
2013: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence, summed it
up this way: “Even a cursory review of virtual schooling in the U.S.
reveals an environment much like the legendary wild west. There are outsized
claims, lagging performance, intense conflicts, lots of taxpayer money at
stake, and very little solid evidence to justify the rapid expansion of virtual
schools.”

TribLive
By Bobby
Cherry Published: Wednesday,
May 1, 2013,
9:00 p.m.QuakerValley leaders say the growing cost of
cyber and other charter school tuitions from local school district funds needs
to be capped. Under a resolution adopted
last week, board members and administrators are seeking changes to the state's
school code that would alter how cyber and charter school tuition is
calculated.

The PhiladelphiaSchool
District's motive to start its own cyber charter
school is understandable - recouping some of the $60 million it sends to other
cyber charters to serve city students - but that's not the road to take. It's been only five months since the EducationLawCenter urged Pennsylvania to impose a moratorium on any
new cyber charters, citing recent research showing cyber charters in the state
are not educating students as well as traditional public schools.

In fact, not one of the 16
cyber charters operating in Pennsylvania
is meeting the adequate yearly progress requirements of the federal No Child
Left Behind law. The law center said the state isn't providing sufficient
oversight of the cyber charters, which have 35,000 enrolled students.

Communities in Schools of Pennsylvania has
received a $150,000 grant from Walmart and the Walmart Foundation to finance
the creation of the PennsylvaniaDropoutPreventionResourceCenter. The center will serve as a clearinghouse for
educators and community members to aid their shared efforts to help at-risk
youth stay in school.

Communities in Schools of
Pennsylvania will convene its 2013 Pennsylvania Dropout Prevention Summit at HarrisburgUniversity on Thursday featuring first
lady Susan Corbett and several leading education and dropout prevention
experts.

Governor
Corbett Announces Finalists for 2014 Teacher of the YearPDE Press Release May 02, 2013
Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett and Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis today
announced the 12 educators who have been selected as finalists for
Pennsylvania’s 2014 Teacher of the Year.
“I congratulate these outstanding educators for being selected as finalists
to compete for this award,” Corbett said. “These individuals represent the
thousands of excellent educators in classrooms across the state who are
dedicated to educating children.”

Harrisburg– The
Pennsylvania Department of Education today released the Report on Referendum
Exceptions for School Year 2013-14, which provides detailed information on the
number of school districts throughout Pennsylvania that have applied and been
approved for exceptions under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2006.

For the 2013-14 school year, of
the 497 school districts that operate on a fiscal-year basis and are subject to
provisions of Act 1, 311 indicated they would not increase real estate tax
rates above the index and 186 adopted a preliminary budget.

Thanks to people who visit the
state’s casinos and play slots, homeowners
will once again see a break on their school property taxes. The amount of tax reduction homeowners will
realize from this sixth distribution of slots proceeds for property tax relief
varies by school district. It is based on a formula that favors districts with
weaker tax bases, lower personal incomes and higher tax burdens. Among 29 midstate school districts, the tax
reductions will range from $57 in CumberlandValleySchool
District to $556 in Palmyra Area School
Districts. The average is $167. ….The
amount available for tax relief next year from the state's 11 casinos is down
by more than $4 million from this year’s more than the $782.5
million, the tax relief program's high-water mark.

“We’re not saving kids; we’re creating
institutions that are unaccountable to the public.”

Shaping
Perception of Public Schools

American School Board Journal By
Lawrence Hardy
May 2013

…..Not so long ago, people who
devoted much if not all of their professional lives to public education
-- administrators, teachers and counselors, school board members --
could simply concentrate on the critical work before them, They knew the
public, while not agreeing with everything they did, would be behind them. That
time is now gone.

To win the fight -- and
it is a fight -- for public education, school leaders must be more
aggressive in standing up and confronting those who would privatize public
schools, in some instances, with the expectation of considerable financial
gain. That means changing, or not entering, the “no-win” conversations and not
accepting the other side’s characterizations of “failing schools,” “incompetent
teachers,” or what Louisiana State Superintendent John White, in describing
opponents of yet another plan for state voucher expansion, labeled “entrenched
interests.”

“Now, instead of the facilities belonging
to the public, they will belong to the private sector organizations, for-profit
and nonprofit, that own the charters. The entrepreneurs keep the public money.
It is theirs.”

Florida Charters Score $91
Million from Public School Construction Funds

Remember when charter advocates
said they could do a better job of educating kids with less money? You probably
don’t remember, it was years ago.

The charters have forgotten it
too. In Florida, the
charter lobby just got $91 million from the Legislature. This is money
taken from the public schools’ facilities fund. Now, instead of the facilities
belonging to the public, they will belong to the private sector organizations,
for-profit and nonprofit, that own the charters. The entrepreneurs keep the
public money. It is theirs.

When you look at the average
performance of American students on international test scores, our kids come
off as a pretty middling bunch. If you rank countries based on their very fine
differences, we come in 14th in reading, 23rd in science, and 25th in math. Those
finishes led Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to flatly
declare that "we're being out-educated."

And on average, maybe we are.
But averages also sometimes obscure more than they reveal. My colleague Derek
Thompson has written
before about how, once you compare students from similar income and
class backgrounds, our relative performance improves dramatically, suggesting
that our educational problems may be as much about our sheer number of poor
families as our supposedly poor schools. This week, I stumbled on another data
point that belies the stereotype of dimwitted American teens.

When it comes to raw numbers,
it turns out we generally have far more top performers than any other developed
nation.

PA Early Childhood Education Caucus to discuss
state budget at May 8 news conference

HARRISBURG, May 2 –
The Early Childhood Education Caucus will hold a news conference at 10
a.m. Wednesday May 8 at the CapitolMediaCenter where
its members will voice support for adequately funding early childhood care and
education programs in the 2013-14 state budget. Speakers will include:

State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne, and state Sen. Pat
Browne, R-Lehigh/Northampton/Monroe, co-chairs of the caucus;

Phil Peterson, senior vice president of Aon Hewitt and co-chair
of ReadyNation;

Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed;

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Perugino of Kingston and retired
Army Maj. Gen. William Burns, both of whom will represent Mission
Readiness; and

Members of the caucus.

The 125-member Early Childhood
Education Caucus is a bipartisan, bicameral alliance of legislators who
advocate for the continued funding and development of high-quality early
childhood care and education programs in Pennsylvania.

The caucus has worked together
on many issues with the Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission,
which is co-chaired by Peter Danchak of northeastern Pennsylvania.

One thing that’s been lost a
bit in the discussion around President Obama’s preschool
proposal is where, exactly, the United States stands compared to peer
countries when it comes to subsidizing preschool and other early childhood
education programs.

The answer, unsurprisingly, is
that we’re among the stingiest countries when it comes to nursery school, as a
new issue
brief from the Center for American Progress makes clear (also, nice
punny title CAP, well-played):

Endnotes and citations are
available in the PDF version of this issue brief.

Early childhood education and
school readiness is essential to preparing our children to succeed in an
increasingly competitive global economy. Compared to other countries, however,
the United States
lags far behind on preschool, trailing a number of other countries in
enrollment, investment, and quality. In
February 2013, however, President Barack Obama put forth a bold plan to
significantly expand access to preschool. His plan would invest $75 billion in
high-quality preschool, helping our nation catch up with other countries.

For over 35 years, the
Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts was a robust summer program that
provided over 10,000 students state-wide with extraordinary opportunities to
develop their artistic talents, intellects, self-confidence, and leadership.
Unfortunately, for budget reasons, state officials ended the program a few
years ago. The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC)'s 2012 Arts and
Education Policy Report recommended the school be reestablished and the
Pennsylvania Arts Education Network is now urging that the Governor's School
for the Arts be restored.

To support this effort, we
would like to create a comprehensive list of alumni who attended the School.
This list would be an important voice in supporting the reopening of the
Governor's School for the Arts, and arts education in Pennsylvania, generally.

If you, or someone you know attended the Pennsylvania's Governor's School for the
Arts, please complete this form and share with others. This
list will be used internally, and will not be made public. For more information about the Pennsylvania
Arts Education Network and for news about the reestablishment of the
Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts, please visit ArtsEducationPA.org.

As stated in Article XII,
proposals for amending the PSBA Bylaws must be submitted "in writing,
mailed first class and postmarked or marked received at PSBA headquarters prior
to May 15 of each year." Proposals
should be addressed to the Bylaws Committee Chair or the Executive Director and
sent to PSBA headquarters by the May 15, 2013, deadline.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA)
is a nonprofit statewide association of public school boards, pledged to the
highest ideals of local lay leadership for the public schools of the
commonwealth. Founded in 1895, PSBA has a rich history as the first
school boards' association established in the United States. Pennsylvania's 4,500 school directors become
members by virtue of election to their local board -- the board joins as a
whole. Membership in PSBA is by school district or other eligible local
education agency such as intermediate unit, vocational school or community
college……..

Search
by Diversified Search, 1990 M St NW, Suite 570, Washington, DC.
Questions may be directed to PSBA@divsearch.com. Interested
parties should email their resume and cover letter to PSBA@divsearch.com.
Please apply by June 1, 2013 for
best consideration.

Jeffery B. Clay, Executive
Director for the Pennsylvania Schools Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS)
will present on the topic of pension reform. Mr. Clay’s presentation will
review the increases in retirement contributions and the Governor’s proposal on
pension reform. As one concerned about public education, we are sure that
you will find this meeting enlightening and a valuable investment of your time.

Please join us for the Notebook’s annual Turning the Page for
Change celebration on June 11, 2013, from 4:30 - 7 p.m. at the University of The Arts, Hamilton Hall, 320 S. Broad Street.
We will be honoring a member of the Notebook community for years of
service to our mission as well as honoring several local high school
journalists. Help us celebrate another year of achievement that included two
awards from the Education Writers Association and coverage of other critical
stories like the budget crisis and the school closing process.

About Me

Mark Twain: "God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board."
--------------------------------
School Director, School District of Haverford Township, since 1999;
Chairman, Delaware County School Boards Legislative Council;
Founder and Co-Chair, Southeastern Pennsylvania School Districts’ Education Coalition/Keystone State Education Coalition, Board of Directors, PA School Boards Assocation
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If you have any feedback or links to articles that might be a good fit on this blog please email me at lawrenceafeinberg@gmail.com
Thanks!